The invention concerns a container device for distributing a preferably drinkable liquid, such as beer, wine, mineral water or juice, under pressure from a gas, e.g. CO.sub.2, comprising a liquid container with a combined gas and liquid valve and a coupling head which may be detachably coupled with the gas and liquid valve for dispensing liquid from the liquid container and adding gas via a reduction valve from a reservoir of liquefied gas in a high pressure container.
Such containers, which are generally called casks or kegs, are widely used nowadays for distributing e.g. beer, which is maintained in the container under a CO.sub.2 pressure of about 3 bar, with a view to keeping the beer fresh and giving it its special fizzy and foaming character. The container is opened by mounting on its valve a special coupling head which is in turn connected with a dispensing valve via a line. During dispensing the gas now also acts as a propellant gas, which however follows the beverage out of the container to a certain extent. To remedy the adverse consequences of this, it is necessary successively to supplement the gas content of the container with new gas as the beverage is dispensed, and with the present state of the art this takes place by connecting the gas inlet of the coupling head via a reduction valve with a separate bottle or with disposable cartridges in which the gas is present in a liquefied state. This is cumbersome and time consuming in any event, and in particular when bottles are used, requiring relatively complicated connections, while on the other hand the costs are increased considerably when cartridges are used instead, since emptying of just one container takes several cartridges which will then have to be discarded afterwards.
It has been attempted to remedy these drawbacks by arranging an additional chamber upwardly in an otherwise conventional beverage container by means of a partition. The consumer then fills this chamber in advance with sufficient gas for emptying the container of the beverage. This essentially solves the above-mentioned problems since the user no longer has to use separate gas bottles or cartridges, but owing to the excessively great volume of the gas this new type of container takes up much more room than previously, which adds to the transport and handling costs.
Further, the U.S. Patent Specification No. 3 243 085 discloses a dispensing container having a gas pressure container therein. However, this gas pressure container is a separate part which is insertable into and removable from the dispensing container; therefore, it does not have the advantages which are associated with the above-mentioned known beverage container where the gas chamber constitutes an integral part of the beverage container.
The object of the invention is therefore to provide a container device of the type mentioned in the opening paragraph, which itself can contain the necessary gas amount for emptying the beverage without noticeable increase in the total volume of the container, and which is also easier and quicker to mount when it is to be used, than known before.
This is obtained in that the container device of the invention is characterized in that at least a high pressure container for liquefied gas constitutes a component integral with the liquid container, whereby the transportable container can hold sufficient gas for emptying without its overall volume being noticeably increased since the gas in liquified form only has a very small volume.
According to the invention, the high pressure container may be a cylinder or ring shaped pressure container which is secured to the liquid container by means of joining method, such as welding, soldering, seaming or screwing. The transport container is hereby divided into two chambers, one of which is a low pressure chamber for the liquid and the other a high pressure chamber for the liquefied gas.
In a preferred embodiment, the high pressure container may moreover according to the invention be a cylinder or ring-shaped pressure container, which is embedded in a jacket of e.g. foam plastics which surrounds the liquid container and is firmly connected with it, so that the high pressure chamber and its boundaries will be disposed completely outside the low pressure chamber, which is thus easier to clean.
Moreover, according to the invention, the container device may comprise one or more high pressure containers, each of which is adapted to a pressure of at least 60 bar, and the product of this pressure and the containers, volume in liters may be less than 250 liter bars, preferably less than 200 liter bars. The gas can hereby be contained in a liquefied state without the high pressure container or high pressure containers being subjected to official and repeated testing and approval requirements, since the sufficient gas amount for emptying the container of liquid is divided, if necessary, between several high pressure containers of this type.
Further, according to the invention, the reduction valve may form a component integral with the liquid container, so that mounting is facilitated considerably when the container is to be used.
Finally, the outlet opening of the reduction valve and the gas and liquid valve may be positioned with mutual axis-spacing, and the coupling head may be equipped with a dispensing valve for the liquid and also be so adapted that in mounted state it partly connects the reduction valve with the gas inlet of the gas and liquid valve, partly connects the dispensing valve with the liquid outlet of the gas and liquid valve. This means that the coupling head may be mounted on the transport container in a single operation, which at the same time establishes all the necessary gas and liquid connections for operating the container device and dispensing the liquid.